University of California, San Diego



Reading Political Science Research PapersIn this class – and many others you will take in the future – you are asked to read political science research articles. These are written in a way that is different from a textbook and the purpose of reading the articles is also different. The textbook is typically geared toward giving you background knowledge on key terms and concepts to reinforce or supplement what we learn in class. The articles serve as examples of these concepts in action as researchers have applied knowledge of concepts from the textbook, such as independent and dependent variables (they researchers are studying the relationship between some IV and some DV). As you read the research papers, you should aim to pull out the concepts from class. Research papers generally follow a very similar structure and this guide is designed to help you pull out the key points of an article as you read for this class. IntroductionTypically the first few paragraphs of an article, the introduction should give you some real world context to show why we care about the topic, introduce the research question, and introduce the independent and dependent variables. The introduction sometimes includes a summary of the results of the paper as well. Research Question: What research questions are the authors trying to answer? Key “buzzwords” or phrases to look for: “In this paper, we seek to understand …”, “Yet, previous research has not sufficiently explored ______. We seek to fill this gap in the literature…”, “We seek to answer…” You might also look for cases where the authors say what is wrong with previous research attempts to settle some debate. In the Merolla et al. article, you can find the answer on page 790, in the paragraph starting with “All of these competing claims.” For the experimental portion of the paper, you can find this in the last paragraph on page 795. Hypothesis/Theory: What relationship do the authors propose? What is the reason for this proposed relationship?Key “buzzwords” or phrases to look for: “We argue,” “We theorize,” “We hypothesize,” “We propose,” “We introduce,” etc. Sometimes authors will actually list out “Hypothesis 1,” “Hypothesis 2,” etc. very clearly. For the experimental portion of the Merolla et al. article, you can find this starting in the last paragraph on page 795.Dependent Variable (DV): What is the outcome that the authors are trying to explain?Key “buzzwords” or phrases to look for: “We examine the effect of _____ on _____,” “What explains _____?”, In the Merolla et al. article, you can find this in the abstract and in the paragraph beginning with “All of these competing claims…” on page 790. For the experimental portion, check out pages 795-796.Independent Variable (IV): What explains or causes changes in the outcome of interest (DV)?Key “buzzwords” or phrases to look for: “We examine the effect of ____ on ____”, “How does ____ cause ____?” In the Merolla et al. article, you can find this in the abstract and in the paragraph beginning with “All of these competing claims…” on page 790. For the experimental portion, check out pages 795-796.Preview of the Findings: What are the authors’ main conclusions? Why should we care about the findings?Key “buzzwords” or phrases to look for: “We find…,” “Overall, we show…,” “We demonstrate…, “We support…,” “Our results demonstrate that…,” “Our results speak to the literature on…,” “Our results speak to [real world problem]…,” “Our results have implications for…” In the Merolla et al. article, you can find this in the paragraph starting with “As we show, …” on page 790. Research DesignAs discussed in class, research articles are like a recipe – the authors are going to tell you the steps they took to conduct their research so that you could replicate it if you wanted. The section of a paper in which researchers describe the steps they took to test their hypotheses is often called “Research Design,” “Experimental Design,” “Empirical Strategy,” or “Methods.” Sometimes, it’s not labeled so clearly, though, as in the Merolla et al. article. In these cases, you want to look for phrases like: “In order to test our hypotheses, we conduct a ____.” In the Merolla et al. article, you can find this starting in the “Effects of Frames on Public Opinion” section on page 796. What is the test?How do the authors test their hypotheses? Do they conduct a randomized experiment? A quasi-experiment? An observational analysis? In the Merolla et al. article, check out the first paragraph of the “Effects of Frames on Public Opinion” section on page 796.How do the authors measure their variables? (IV and DV)Earlier, you identified the independent and dependent variables of interest. The authors will likely remind you of the IV and DV of interest here in the research design section, but they’ll also take it a step further to tell you how they measured them. Did they use a survey question? Did they use voter records to observe whether the respondents turned out to vote? You can often look for phrases like “To measure our independent variable, we …” In the Merolla et al. article, this can be found starting in the second paragraph of the “Effects of Frames on Public Opinion” section on page 796.Are there any confounds that the authors are worried about? How do they address them?Look for buzzwords or phrases like: “In order to avoid ____,” “It is possible that ____ confounds the relationship between IV and DV because…,” “It is possible that other factors could be driving this relationship…,” “In an effort to control for the effects of ___,” etc. Authors will often discuss these as they justify the reason they conducted an experiment. If the authors conduct an experiment: What are the treatments?How did the authors design the experiment? How many treatment groups were there? How is the treatment administered? The authors will typically describe the experimental procedure in detail in the paper, but sometimes in an appendix. The authors will likely give examples of what the treatments looked like. In the Merolla et al. article, check out the “Effects of Frames on Public Opinion” on page 796, particularly the underlined portions.FindingsOften, authors will have a section labeled “Results,” or “Findings.” Other times, authors will label a section with a short version of the key finding—something like “More Screen Time Causes Less Happiness,” “Hospital Visits Cause Individuals to Get Sick,” or “Ice Cream Sales Cause Shark Attacks.” In the event that the results portion of an article is not labeled clearly, you can find it by looking for tables, figures, and phrases like “We find…,” “Our analysis reveals that…,” etc. This section will explain to you the results of any statistical tests the authors performed to test their hypotheses – did they compare the mean (average)? Did they conduct a regression? A chi-square test? A t-test? We’ll learn more about these tests later on in the course.What did the authors find? How did they find it?Look for buzzwords like: “We find…,” “Our results show…,” “Table X shows that…,” etc. to see what the authors found. These same sentences might also signal how they found it. You might also look for phrases like “A difference in means test reveals that…,” “We compared the average ____ between our treatment and control groups and found that …,” etc. In the Merolla et al. article, you can see this starting in the “Experimental Findings” section on page 797.What are the limitations of the study? Any concerns for internal and external validity?The authors will typically discuss the limitations of their analysis. This can be found either in the results section or a section often called “Discussion.” The authors should point out some of the potential ways in which they are unable to make a clear causal claim (if applicable) and the ways in which the results from their study might not generalize to other contexts (external validity). However, it’s also up to you as a critical reader to think about potential threats to internal and external validity that the authors might have missed. Think about the ways in which the study (e.g. the experiment, the treatments, the sample, etc.) is similar to and different from the independent and dependent variables of interest in the real world. ConclusionWhat do we learn from this study? Did the authors find evidence in support of their theory? What new hypotheses can we test to build on the results from this study? Do the results have implications for our behavior? Policy choices? Institutions? Ultimately, why should we care about the results from this paper? This is a suggested way to take notes on the readings to best prepare you for class discussions and the exams. While it might seem daunting and take more time to complete the reading, your notes will be very organized when you go to study for the tests. This is not a requirement and you should feel free to make adjustments to fit your personal style, but this might be one way to help you pick up on the key points and engage with the article. If you can, I recommend trying to keep your notes concise enough to fit into this chart on one page! Article Citation: Author Last Name, Author First Name. (YEAR). “TITLE.” Journal. Vol. PagesMy Notes Jot down your notes for each part of the article to answer the questions listed in the rows. Try to do this in your own words. You might want to include both the sentence from the article and your own words if that helps you.My Comments, Questions, and CritiquesJot down any questions you have, things you don’t understand, etc. You should also note any critiques you have, especially in the method section.Connections to Class ConceptsJot down any key terms you notice in the reading that we have covered in class or similarities to examples we have discussed.Research Question (What are the authors trying to explain?)Independent Variable (What is the IV? How is it measured?)Dependent Variable (What is the DV? How is it measured?)Theory and Hypotheses (What are the authors’ hypotheses? Why do they expect these relationships?)Method (How do the authors test their hypotheses? Describe the experiment or quasi experiment in a few bullet points. Describe the data sources. Note why the authors choose this method.)Results (What do the authors find? Do they find evidence in support of their hypotheses?) Limitations (What limitations do the authors discuss? Threats to internal and external validity?)Conclusion (What did we learn from this? Why should we care about the results?)Additional Resources Active Reading (tips for reading for class): ................
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